Rum time again. Advent calendar day 13. so we're just over halfway through. Only 12 more after this one. I'm not sure I've ever heard of Saint Lucia. Sounds Caribbean to me. Time for some research. Look at this picture while I google about.
Bit of an intro
Saint Lucia is indeed in the Caribbean. The distillery started as a sugar plantation and developed into a distillery relatively recently. Recently compared to Mount Gay which started in the 1700s at least. This particular rum has an interesting story: Once upon a time there was a big fire at the distillery. It was on the second of May 2007 so it's not an old story. Anyway, during the aftermath of the fire and the repairs to the distillery the cellar master had to find some creative places to store barrels of Chairman's Reserve rum. The problem was he forgot where they were and by the time they were found they had aged too long to be able to use them in their usual Chairman's Reserve bottlings, and they decided to release the "forgotten casks" as a special bottling. Unfortunately this isn't that rum, this rum is designed to mimic it, but it should still be pretty pleasant. The special release was well received so the distillery decided to continue keeping selected casks for extra aging to be released under the name "The Forgotten Casks".
This rum has been aged longer than the regular Chairman's reserve. Specifically it's a blend of rums, some distilled in pot stills and some in column stills. The rums are aged separately in ex-bourbon casks, so there's probably be a hint of vanilla. The rums ae then blended and the blended rum is put back into the same barrels and aged a further three years. All in all the rums in the blend are between six and eleven years old. It's probably in the XO class, but with some of the components being up to eleven years old it makes sense to give it a different name, and the name has a nice story to it.
The full size bottle says that it is non-chill filtered which I'm happy about. It's bottled at 40% ABV though, so not quite as exciting as it could have been. I won't add too much water, but hopefully the non chill-filtered presentation will give it some complexity. The last two rums have been quite simple. I couldn't find out anything about colouring but I'll comment on that when I look at the appearance of it in the glass. Not sure what else to say. They give some tasting notes so we'll have a bit of a comparison in the extra comments again.
Packaging
This is possibly the most appealing label so far. It's a darkish blue and gold colour scheme as you can see in this lovely picture:
Looks posh
This looks like quite an upmarket rum. The little strip that looks like an old label has the signature of the cellar on it. His name appears to by Cyril, but I can't read his surname because the writing's too small. It also says "pot and column still blend" and "extra aged". The full size bottle says non chill-filtered instead of saying about the stills. Extra aged is a bit vague, but too much detail about the maturation would fill up the space too much. The point of the label is partly to inform potential sippers about the contents, but also to be eye catching on the shelf. They've managed to give enough information to make it sound interesting while not cluttering it up. Well designed label if you ask me, and the full size bottle is round as bottles should be, and is sort of squat. All in all a well presented rum.
Smell in the botttle
On opening
Molassesy rum smell.
Smells like proper rum. So far so good.
Appearance
It looks like a relatively dark rum.
Brownish
It's not sold as a dark rum, but it's darker than some. It doesn't show so much in the picture but when you see it in person it ahs a bit more of an orangey tone, suggesting some caramel colouring. It could just be from the casks, but I think it has a little colouring. Looks appetizing though.
Neat
Nose
Smells of rum.
Bit of spice, maybe clove.
Vanilla, but kind of spicy.
Dried fruit.
Oak.
Possibly a hint of tobacco but I had a cigar earlier so not sure.
Bit of treacle toffee.
Kind of like a Speyside whisky. (See extra comments)
Touch of cinnamon.
Arrival
Sweet
Juicy.
Quite raisiny.
Development
Bit of spice.
Bit nutty.
Finish
Dry oak.
Water - just a bit
Nose
Sweet Vanilla, almost caramel.
Sherry-like raisin.
Hint of a powdery floral note.
Maybe a touch of milk chocolate.
Sweet biscuity thing, maybe caramel shortbread.
Arrival
Sweet.
Juicy.
A little spice, cinnamon, clove.
Bit of vanilla.
Bit of tropical fruit coming in as the water works. Getting interesting, but I jus ran out.
Development
Hint of tobacco I think. Again, I had a cigar a while ago so no certain there.
Spices carrying through and warming up a little.
Just a touch of nutty woodiness.
Warm cinnamon.
Hint of tropical fruit just for a second.
Finish
Raisin lingering.
Dry oak.
Longer than some rums.
Subtle, warm spice carrying through. Cinnamon, maybe a touch of anise.
Bit of dark chocolate.
A few extra comments
This rum reminded me very much of a Speyside whisky. The raisiny notes and spices were very reminiscent of a sherry cask matured whisky, and the almost caramelly vanilla notes are also common in whiskies from Speyside.
Time to compare my notes to those published by the producer. Tasting notes published by the manufacturer of the product are of course part of the marketing. They have to be accurate, but also make it sound like something you want to drink. They say the following:
"Rich, dark, gold mahogany color with an intense nose of
sweet raisins, cigar tobacco, amber honey and vanilla. A
warm palate offers grilled tropical fruit and candied walnuts
rounded with soft spices that persist throughout a long
wonderful finish."
Mahogany is a bit of a posh way of saying brown. I got the raisin. I'm actually surprised they mentioned cigar tobacco. I really wasn't sure if just had a bit of cigar smoke lingering in my sinuses or something. I didn't get honey from it, but there was certainly sweetness. Vanilla was there for sure. "Warm palate" makes sense, I had that as a warm spiciness. Tropical fruits were beginning to come through with a drop of water and some time, but I finished it just as they were getting more noticeable. I wouldn't say grilled tropical fruit, but I've never tasted grilled tropical fruit. I got a bit of nuttiness, but I wouldn't have got anything more specific than that. Long finish, yes, but calling your own product wonderful is a bit... you know.
Conclusion
Nice rum. Nice to have a bit more going on in the flavour department today, the last two weren't so interesting. I like the presentation and the story. I like the lack of chill-filtering and I think it did allow for more complexity, which usually manifests in the finish. On a scale of one to ten a bit higher alcohol strength would have helped this along and made it really good. It's certainly very enjoyable. Would I buy a bottle? Not sure. It's the price of a decent whisky and I think I'd probably use the money for a nice Speyside malt instead. Not that this rum is bad, I'm just more into whisky.
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